OT: Jon Gruden is Offered $10 Million to Coach Tennessee
Tennessee wants Gruden. He would clearly be setting if he took this job - you'll recall that in college, he stated that his dream job was to coach at Michigan.
https://www.seccountry.com/tennessee/coaching-rumors-tennessee-offered-…
October 30th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^
What about the offers they extended to Chip Kelly, Nick Saban, Dabo Sweney, and Bill Belichick?
October 30th, 2017 at 1:14 PM ^
I have a friend who has some Tenn connections and he says its a done deal. This would be pretty shocking...
October 30th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^
...though that might be bad info
October 30th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^
You forgot the /s
October 30th, 2017 at 11:00 AM ^
I think Michigan should pay him one dollar less than Harbaugh to be Offensive Coordinator.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:03 AM ^
don't understand this. He is a hell of a TV personality and was a very good coach, ten years ago. The NFL game that he coached really doesn't even exist anymore. I don't understand the universal obsession with Jon Gruden coming back to coach. $10 million per year? That Super Bowl was 15 years ago and Tampa fizzled out pretty comprehensively right after that. That is just weird to me.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:06 AM ^
Tennessee has lost it. They think he'll take the job b/c he was a grad assistant there some 30 odd years ago.
It's quite intriguing to see how Florida and Tennessee are handling their coaching situations.
Glad Michigan isn't a frequent rider on the coaching carousel anymore.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:08 AM ^
October 30th, 2017 at 11:55 AM ^
If there is a college football job out there, Jon Gruden will be considered for it. I think it's an NCAA bylaw.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
I agree, if by "considered" you mean "fans think he's only been out of coaching because he's just waiting for the right job and theirs is definitely it."
October 30th, 2017 at 12:14 PM ^
Is that Gruden is 3% native american, 4% african american, 2.4% asian american, and 1.6% Hawaiian, and has ancestors who would today identify as latino, so he checks multiple boxes for minority hiring in one fell swoop.
Also, he took Tampa fricking Bay to the Super Bowl. That's like Kansas winning the FOOTBALL national championship.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^
if Kansas had a defense of future Hall of Fame players.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:09 AM ^
October 30th, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
Dan Mullen is the favorite with Frost, Taggart and Strong being named as well.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:18 AM ^
If I'm Frost I have a war room set up with my agent right now to do a little game theory strategery on how best to play UF, NEB and TEN off one another. Any one of those could be a great gig, and he will get paid a crap ton of money. UCLA might enter the fray as well (they always love to have a shiny new car on offense).
October 30th, 2017 at 11:23 AM ^
You are right, Frost is a hot name and will be making $5 million-plus next year. But why do I have a feeling that he will fail on a bigger stage? Is it just wishful thinking because I still hate him from 1997?
October 30th, 2017 at 11:28 AM ^
I'd love nothing more than for him to go back to Lincoln and fall right on his stupid fucking face.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
Honestly, I think staying at UCF would be better than going to Nebraska. UCF is the biggest school in the US in terms of enrollment (fun fact right there, eh?), and has a lot of plusses (weather, tons of talent nearby, far less pressure, an easier schedule, etc). He'd have to have a really strong emotional attachment to Nebraska to go back there, I'd think.
October 30th, 2017 at 2:54 PM ^
You forgot the 5 million reasons a year that NEB or UF are going to make UCF look like last week's leftover frozen-TV dinner.
October 30th, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
Since we're into fun facts, UCF has the highest enrollment if you count only a single contiguous campus. ASU is bigger if you count its enrollment at 4 metro Phoenix locations. Note that this is not a "UM - Ann Arbor, UM - Flint, UM - Dearborn" situation. It is a little more like a "north campus, central campus" situation in Ann Arbor except that there are a few more miles in between campuses. For example, the School of Journalism, college of nursing and the law school are located in downtown Phoenix and not in Tempe much like the College of Engineering and the TCAUP are located on north campus.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:19 AM ^
If I'm Florida, I'm taking the hardest run at Scott Frost. With the talent that UF could pull in, he could produce some really high-powered offenses, IMO.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^
Really makes one wonder what Nebraska is doing. It would be a tragedy if they can't manage to reel in Frost this offseason given their connection to him.
Part of me wants Nebraska to get him, so the B1G West stops being roadkill for Wisconsin every. fucking. year.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
Be honest...where would you rather coach:
Option 1: The state everyone visits for vacation with amazing weather and the most fertile recruiting ground for football in the country. (Downsides - meth addicts and hurricanes)
Option 2: The state you have a historical-emotional connection with. (Downsides - meth addicts, snow, terrible weather, no recruits, everyone is plus-sized, corn is a religion, etc.)
October 30th, 2017 at 11:36 AM ^
mmmmmm...corn.
October 30th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
i'm sure glad Harbaugh chose 2.
(except less corn, and hopefully fewer meth addicts?)
October 30th, 2017 at 2:35 PM ^
October 31st, 2017 at 12:00 AM ^
October 30th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
Having spent a lot of time in Gainesville, I have to say that:
1. The weather argument is way overrated - Gainesville is hot and humid as hell; it's not near any beaches, you're straight up in a swamp. It is plenty unpleasant a lot of the time.
2. As a town, Gainesville is like 30% college town and about 70% stripmalls and big box shopping plazas. It is a boring and ugly place.
3. A corollary to #1, you are not only not close to any beaches, you aren't close to anything. The area immediately surrounding Gainesville is the deepest of the deep south, and any nearby city is probably a 2 hours drive (and those cities are going to be of the Orlando, Tampa, or Jacksonville ilk).
October 30th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
just posted. Florida can be so damn miserable during the summer, especially, and there is nothing special about that particular area. Lots of deep south rednecks in the area, and the ugliness was actually understated by GoBlueInNYC
October 30th, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^
...spent over 6 yrs living in various parts of FL. Really if you're not 15 or 20 min's from the beach, why even bother living in that state. You can just visit if you get tired of winter elsewhere.
Living through the hot humid summers (that last about 8 months) in FL really blows.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:10 PM ^
Gainesville is not that bad. Go out at night and use a pool instead of the beach. Will agree it is in a pretty bad location once you get out of the city (from JAX). Also no nearby major airport.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^
I agree. I get that's it's culturally distinct from the coastal areas, but "deepest of the deep south" should be reserved for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama IMO.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
Yeah, that was a little hyperbolic (though I do know a guy who got called a gay slur because he was reading a book while eating by himself at a diner outside of town). Just because there are worse places in the south, doesn't mean northern central Florida isn't terrible backwoods.
And the immediate vicinity around Gainesville is still very very stark (and if you've ever been to Stark, FL, you'll understand).
October 30th, 2017 at 3:09 PM ^
October 30th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^
I have been out at night and been to a pool. Gainesville still sucks.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
Florida is the five miles from the coast in. Everything else in that state is really just an extension of Mississippi.
October 30th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^
I don't disagree with what you say about Gainesville. I've only been there once and was very underwhelmed. But I think the same sentiment - albeit, opposite - applies just as much to Lincoln.
Outside of a handful of fall Saturdays, Lincoln is not a fun town. There is little redeeming about the city itself, except maybe the football stadium. Moreover, depending on the directions of the wind, the entire area can smell like sh*t from all the surrounding silos and farms.
Yes, Gainesville is not on the beach...Lincoln is literally as far as you can get from the beach! Moreover, the closest, "pretty" nautral area is at least 10 hours away from you (no mountains, no beaches...not much!). If you wanna get outta Gainesville for the weekend, go to Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, etc. If you wanna get outta Lincoln for the weekend, go to ??? (Des Moines?! Kansas City?!).
While Florida summers are unbearable, Nebraska winters are equally terrible. It doesn't snow as much as Michigan, but the temperatures and windchill are rough...borderline uninhabitable.
I guess my point is: If you think someone should not take a job in Gainesville because it's a "crappy town," I don't know how you could argue Lincoln isn't as bad (if not worse).
October 30th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
Good point, I have never been to Lincoln and have no opinon of it.
I was just pointing out that the argument, "why go to Nebraska when you can live in Florida, a place that people travel to for vacation and has great weather" doesn't necessarily reflect the reality of living in Gainesville.
But totally fair point that Lincoln could also be terrible.
October 30th, 2017 at 5:12 PM ^
Lincoln, NE is warmer on average in the winter than Ann Arbor. January average high is 35 in Lincoln, 31 in Ann Arbor.
It is however more volatile (coldest days are colder, but they also get random 50+ degree days more often than you'd think in the winter). Besides the Dakotas (which are legit freezing), that's true for the Plains in general.
October 30th, 2017 at 6:54 PM ^
What is also true for the plains states is higher summer highs than Ann Arbor as well, with occasional days into the mid 90s or even 100s.
October 31st, 2017 at 10:15 AM ^
October 30th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
"every one is plus-sized" +1
October 30th, 2017 at 4:30 PM ^
Amazing weather? Haha. No. I am fully with you on where I would coach. UCF is better than Nebraska in my opinion due to the talent pool, expectations, etc. But weather? Nah. Florida weather sucks almost as much with the months spent indoors avoiding the heat/humidity. It gets hot AF inland. It can be downright miserable.
October 30th, 2017 at 6:54 PM ^
Dude, you think Florida has amazing weather. Ever been out west?
October 30th, 2017 at 7:50 PM ^
Not "everyone" visits Florida for vacation. For many of us it doesn't crack our top 100 list of vacation destinations, especially Gainesville. I don't dislike Florida, but I generally only go there when someone else pays for it, same as Nebraska.
For coaching football, the proximity to talent argument is strong, otherwise this would be a complete coin flip for me and many other people I know.
October 30th, 2017 at 8:30 PM ^
Hope he doesn't mind meth addicts
October 30th, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^
If the only thing Florida Man is on is meth, you should count yourself lucky.
October 30th, 2017 at 12:11 PM ^
If the Nebraska job opens up, I don't see Frost turning it down. It may not be the smartest move, but for all its disadvantages relative to other programs, Nebraska is one of those schools where the alumni factor is huge. Every place claims to be special, but Nebraska is one of the few that can legitimately claim to have a sort of mystique that other schools can't match. At Florida, he would just be the latest in a string of coaches trying to make the Gators relevant again. And Florida is a crowded state in terms of college football programs competing for attention from recruits, fans, and the media. At Nebraska he would be the native son returning home to rescue Huskers Football (not unlike Harbaugh at Michigan), which is literally the most powerful institution in the entire state.
October 30th, 2017 at 1:44 PM ^
With the exception of Frost's personal ties to Nebraska, how does most of what you say not also apply to Florida?
They are both special programs with historic, hall-of-fame coaches. They both have major alumni bases (I would have to think UF has deeper pockets. Just a guess, though). Florida has obviously had much more recent success than Nebraska, but both schools are attempting to end a string of coaching mistakes. While Florida has many more schools in the state, both UF and UN are the flagship universities in their respective states.
On the same token, Florida is infinitely easier to recruit to, even with the competition. Frost likely has tons of connections with high school coaches across the state; pipelines he can easily tap into in Gainesville. It would not be easy to convert those pipelines to Nebraska; and, Nebraska does not have the local football talent to build teams based on recruiting in NE, KS, IA, and other surrounding states.
Seems like a very easy, obvious decision to make if I'm Frost: Money being equal, I choose UF over UN anyday of the week.
October 30th, 2017 at 8:43 PM ^
The problem is that Nebraska will expect almost the same level of results as Florida, but without the resources.
Nebraska fans are always talking about "X years since we've won a conference championship."
At least at Florida you can recruit well enough to win a conference championship. Until the last few years when Saban got on his insane roll, Florida was out-recruiting Alabama.
Nebraska has never out-recruitied Ohio State or Michigan since it's been in the Big Ten and never will.
But they will still expect the same results.